Abstract: The Dick Dobbins collection includes materials pertaining mainly to the Pacific Coast League (PCL), and the teams that comprise
the league. The bulk of the material was collected by others and purchased by Dobbins, and dates from 1902 to 1957; materials
that were collected or created by Dobbins date from 1946 through 1998. Included in the collection are records of the Pacific
Coast League's head office and official publications, printed materials relating to the PCL, both the teams and individual
players, including: programs, scorecards, yearbooks, articles, final statistics, records, player sketches, blue books, and
baseball cards; and photographs of teams, players, PCL staff, and stadiums. Teams with the largest amount of materials are
the Oakland Oaks, the San Francisco Seals, and the Los Angeles Angels. Also included are typescripts for Dobbins' works on
the Pacific Coast League,
Nuggets on the Diamond and
The Grand Minor League, and audio recordings of interviews Dobbins conducted with players and PCL staff. Also included in the collection are scrapbooks
and newspaper clippings on the league as a whole and for specific teams, and a small amount of material related to Major League
Baseball.

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Technical Requirements

Use of the audiotapes may require the creation of listening copies for some recordings.

Publication Rights

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Director
of the Library and Archives, North Baker Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.

Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.

Some of the materials in the collection have been published in the following books:

Dobbins, Dick.
The Grand Minor League: An Oral History of the Old Pacific
Coast League
. Emeryville, CA: Woodford Press, 1999.

Dobbins, Dick, and Jon Twichell.
Nuggets on the Diamond: Professional Baseball
in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present
. San Francisco: Woodford
Press, 1994.

Separated Material

Photographs and albums of trading cards in this collection are shelved as MSP 4031.

Alternate Forms Available

There are no alternate forms of this collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Dobbins, Dick, 1934-1999--Archives.

Pacific Coast League--History.

Pacific Coast League--Pictorial works.

San Francisco Seals (Baseball team)--Pictorial works.

Oakland Oaks (Baseball team)--Pictorial Works.

Los Angeles Angels (Baseball team)--Pictorial Works.

Baseball-- California--History.

Baseball--California--Pictorial works.

Baseball--California--San Francisco.

Baseball--California--Oakland.

Baseball players-- United States--Interviews.

Baseball players-- United States--Pictorial works.

Baseball players--California--History.

Baseball players--California--Pictorial works.

Baseball players--California--San Francisco.

Baseball players--California--Oakland.

Photographic prints.

Photograph albums.

Baseball cards.

Ephemera.

Audiocassettes.

Oral histories.

Scrapbooks.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. Judith P. Dobbins and family, December 1999.

Accruals

No additions are expected.

Processing Information

Processed by Wendy Welker and Tanya Hollis, with the assistance of Doug McWilliams, Matthew Kroot, and John C. Lamberson,
1999-2006.
Funding for processing this collection was provided by Mrs. Judith Dobbins.

Biography of Dick Dobbins

Dick Dobbins, a resident of Berkeley, California, began collecting baseball cards in 1946, the beginning of a life-long passion
for the Pacific Coast League (PCL). After many years of collecting cards, photographs, and other PCL-related memorabilia,
Dobbins eventually developed a business dealing in baseball memorabilia during the late 1960s. Later, he organized the first
Northern California sports memorabilia show, which focused as much on the PCL as it did on Major League Baseball. He authored
many articles on such topics as collecting memorabilia, the history of baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the PCL.
He was a consultant to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the San Francisco Examiner, and the San Francisco Giants. In 1994
he co-authored (with Jon Twichell) a definitive history of baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area,
Nuggets on the Diamond. He subsequently authored
The Grand Minor League: an Oral History of the Old Pacific Coast League, which was published posthumously in 1999.

History of the Pacific Coast League

The Pacific Coast League (PCL) was founded in 1903, and consisted of four franchises from the California League - Oakland,
Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles - and two new franchises in Portland and Seattle. For the next 54 years, the PCL
was the dominant baseball presence on the West Coast, eventually adding franchises in Hollywood and San Diego. For much of
that time, the PCL had no contractual affiliation with the rest of professional baseball, and was often referred to as the
"Third Major League." While major league teams from the American and National Leagues routinely negotiated with PCL teams
for the rights to individual players, the PCL was not part of the major/minor league system. The PCL's talent pool was extraordinary,
as evidenced by the number of National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees beginning their careers in the PCL, including Joe DiMaggio,
Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, "Lefty" Gomez, the Waner brothers, Ernie Lombardi, and Harry Heilman.

As the population on the West Coast grew and transportation over longer distances became less time-consuming and expensive,
there was a push to move Major League Baseball west. In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the New York
Giants to San Francisco, ending the unopposed popularity of the three most affluent PCL teams, as well as the independent
status of the PCL. Shortly after the arrival of Major League Baseball to California, the PCL was incorporated into Major
League Baseball's national farm club system. The PCL still operates as of 2009 as a AAA minor league, the most advanced classification
below Major League Baseball.

Scope and Contents of Collection

The Dick Dobbins collection includes materials pertaining mainly to the Pacific Coast League (PCL), and the teams that comprise
the league. The bulk of the material was collected by others and purchased by Dobbins, and dates from 1902 to 1957; materials
that were collected or created by Dobbins date from 1946 through 1998. Included in the collection are records of the Pacific
Coast League's head office and official publications, printed materials relating to the PCL, both the teams and individual
players, including: programs, scorecards, yearbooks, articles, final statistics, records, player sketches, blue books, and
baseball cards; and photographs of teams, players, PCL staff, and stadiums. Teams with the largest amount of materials are
the Oakland Oaks, the San Francisco Seals, and the Los Angeles Angels. Also included are typescripts for Dobbins' works on
the Pacific Coast League,
Nuggets on the Diamond and
The Grand Minor League, and audio recordings of interviews Dobbins conducted with players and PCL staff. Also included in the collection are scrapbooks
and newspaper clippings on the league as a whole and for specific teams, and a small amount of material related to Major League
Baseball.

Arrangement

Arranged mainly as received, organized by document type, in four series: Series 1: Pacific Coast League Records; Series 2:
Printed Materials, Scrapbooks, and Clippings; Series 3: Dick Dobbins Personal Papers, Research Materials, Writings and Collections;
Series 4: Photographs and Albums. Many documents were removed by Dick Dobbins and never refiled; Doug McWilliams, a colleague
of Dobbins, assisted with the refiling of the documents in their original order.

Container List

Series 1:
Pacific Coast League Records, 1903-1995

Physical Description:
Boxes 1-18

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Scope and Content Note

Comprised of documents pertaining to the Pacific Coast League (PCL) as an organization.

Subseries 1.1:
Board of Directors Minutes, 1923-1967

Physical Description:
Boxes 1-4

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Includes original typed transcripts and some photocopies for individual regular and special meetings, plus bound cumulative
minutes.

Box 1, Folder 1-5

1923-1941, 1943-1946

Box 2, Folder 6-8

1943-1949

Box 3, Folder 9-11

1949-1954

Box 4, Folder 12-16

1959-1967

Subseries 1.2:
Presidents' Papers, 1915-1972

Physical Description:
Boxes 5-6

Arrangement

Arranged by name, in order of service.

Scope and Content Note

Includes correspondence between the PCL front office, PCL teams, Major League Baseball teams, and organized baseball's front
office and pertain to player transactions; team interactions; territory rights; baseball, league and team policy; scouting;
finances; and a wide range of other topics, and legal documents pertaining to an anti-trust lawsuit brought against Major
League Baseball by the PCL.

This series also contains official league records, including the PCL Blue Books, rosters, and final statistics.

Box 7, Folder 47-58

Records, 1903-1969, 1991, 1995

Box 8, Folder 59-60

PCL Blue Book, 1949-1953

Box 8, Folder 61

Rosters, 1952

Box 8, Folder 62

Miscellaneous roster lists, 1937-1951, undated

Box 8, Folder 63-73

"Final Stats" (scattered years), 1958-1987

Box 8, Folder 74-75

Miscellaneous statistics, 1903-1968

Subseries 1.4:
Player Sketches, 1948-1957

Physical Description:
Boxes 9-10

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Contains brief biographies and lifetime statistics of players, compiled by the PCL.

Box 9, Folder 76-79

1948, 1952, 1954

Box 10, Folder 80-86

1955-1957

Subseries 1.5:
Player Guides, 1960-1976

Physical Description:
Boxes 11-17; Box 18, folders 113-114

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Contains player statistics compiled for press, radio, and television by PCL statistician William J. Weiss.

Box 11, Folder 87-89

1960, 1962, 1964

Box 12, Folder 90-92

1964-1965

Box 13, Folder 93-96

1965-1966

Box 14, Folder 97-100

1966-1967

Box 15, Folder 101-104

1967-1968

Box 16, Folder 105-108

1969-1971

Box 17, Folder 109-112

1972-1974

Box 18, Folder 113-114

1975-1976

Subseries 1.6:
Pacific Coast League Baseball News,
1946-1951

Physical Description:
Box 18, folders 115-120

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Publication issued monthly (then semi-monthly) for PCL fans.

Box 18, Folder 115-120

Volume 1-Volume 5, Numbers 1-3, 1946 May-1951 May

Subseries 1.7:
Printed Materials, 1915-1955, undated

Physical Description:
Box 18, folders 121-123; OV Box 1, folder 1

Arrangement

Further subdivided into publications and ephemera.

Scope and Content Note

Contains miscellaneous printed matter on the PCL, and baseball in general, including a few booklets, yearbooks, and an article.
Also contains ephemera, including a complimentary pass to the 1915 PCL season, and Southern Pacific Railroad breakfast and
dinner menus for the PCL.

Consists of printed material pertaining to teams and players within the PCL, including schedules, scorebooks and ephemera;
some team files may include manuscript material. Also contains scrapbooks of clippings about the PCL and specific franchises,
and newspaper and magazine clippings on players, teams, and the league as whole.

Subseries 2.1:
Schedules, Programs and Score Books, 1902-1981

Physical Description:
Boxes 19-29

Arrangement

Further arranged into 2.1.1: Schedules and 2.1.2: Programs and Scorebooks, then arranged chronologically.

Arranged alphabetically by city and franchise. Cities/franchises with a large number of documents are further divided by type.

Scope and Content Note

Consists of manuscript and ephemeral materials associated with specific cities or PCL franchises, with a heavy emphasis on
cities/franchises through 1957. Oakland has the largest collection both in quantity and diversity. Also included with the
San Francisco Seals materials is a file on Francis "Lefty" O'Doul.

Divided into five subseries: 3.1: Notebooks; 3.2: Articles and Publications; 3.3:
Nuggets on the Diamond and
The Grand Minor League; 3.4: Autographs and Player Portraits; 3.5: Miscellaneous Major League Baseball Manuscripts and Ephemera.

Scope and Content Note

Personal papers and writings of Dick Dobbins. Bulk consists of typecripts and research materials for his two books,
Nuggets on the Diamond and
Grand Minor League, and the audiocassette recordings of oral histories conducted by Dobbins with PCL players and staff. Also contains documents,
autographs, and other materials collected by Dobbins related to Major League Baseball.

Subseries 3.1:
Notebooks, 1947-1957

Physical Description:
Box 36

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Consists of notebooks containing research notes by Dobbins.

Box 36, Folder 357

Who Plays Where in the PCL of 1947; PCL 1948, 1949, 1947-1949

Box 36, Folder 358

PCL Baseball, 1950, 1952-1953

Box 36, Folder 359

PCL Players' Book 1954; PCL Book, 1955, 1954-1955

Box 36, Folder 360

PCL, 1956-1957

Subseries 3.2:
Articles and Publications, 1912-1998

Physical Description:
Box 36; OV Box 1, folder 15

Arrangement

Arranged as received.

Scope and Content Note

Consists of articles and other published materials pertaining to baseball and players, and correspondence relating to Dobbins'
collecting of PCL memorabilia.

A History of Baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco Giants Official 1985 Yearbook; typescript reference on sandlot baseball from
San Francisco, A History of the Pacific Coast Metropolis, by John P. Young, 1912, p. 445

Box 36, Folder 363

Baseball Digest, 1947, 1958

Scope and Content Note

May 1947, Special PCL edition; April 1958, California edition.

Box 36, Folder 364

Dreyer's Weekly Averages, 1952

Scope and Content Note

Volume 1, Number 1, April 11 - May 9, 1952

Box 36, Folder 365

Publications, 1936, [1957], undated

Scope and Content Note

Baseball is Not a Business - and Why, by Earle W. Moss, [1957];
The Fundamentals of How to Play Baseball, The National Baseball School, 1936;
Toast of the Town, Chapter 7 in:
Lefty O'Doul: The Legend that Baseball Nearly Forgot, by Richard Leutzinger [draft]

Subseries 3.3:
Nuggets on the Diamond and
The Grand Minor League,
1903-1999

Physical Description:
Boxes 37-43

Arrangement

Subdivided into 3.3.1:
Nuggets on the Diamond; 3.3.2:
The Grand Minor League; and 3.3.3:
Oral Histories and Interviews.

Scope and Content Note

Includes typescripts for Dobbins' two books,
Nuggets on the Diamond and
The Grand Minor League. Also included here are research materials used by Dobbins, and the audiocassettes and transcripts of the oral histories
and interviews conducted by Dobbins with players, coaches and others in the sport, portions of which were published in
The Grand Minor League. Other audiocassette recordings include conferences and reunions of the PCL, and taped radio interviews and book promotions
with Dobbins.

Consists of a collection of player portraits, many clipped from newspapers and magazines by Dobbins, with the intention of
having players autograph them. Also included are portraits of players painted by artist Carl Aldana, including a portrait
of Dick Dobbins and Doug McWilliams with Lefty O'Doul, and various cartoons and drawings of players from both the PCL and
Major League.

Subseries 3.5:
Miscellaneous Major League Baseball Manuscripts and Ephemera, 1908-1997

Physical Description:
Box 45

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Scope and Content Note

Includes small collections of material such as correspondence between the New York Giants and San Francisco mayor George Christopher
about moving the Giants to San Francisco; and PCL scouting reports of Joe Devine, scout for the New York Yankees.

Box 45, Folder 397-399

Joe Devine Correspondence and Scouting Reports, 1933-1941

Box 45, Folder 400

Jose Perez Correspondence and contracts, 1947-1953

Box 45, Folder 404

Major League Baseball clippings, 1909-1983, undated

Box 45, Folder 405

Non- and pre-PCL ephemera and miscellany, 1908-1968, undated

San Francisco Giants

Box 45, Folder 401

Correspondence pertaining to Giants' move to San Francisco, 1957-1958

Box 45, Folder 402

Walter Mails, Publicity Director correspondence, 1957-1958, undated

Box 45, Folder 403

Rosters, Ephemera, 1957-1969, 1997, undated

Series 4:
Photographs and Trading Cards, 1866-1987

Physical Description:
MSP Boxes 1-17; Albums 1-18; MSP OV Boxes 1-5

Arrangement

Further divided into two subseries: 2.1: Photographs; and 2.2: PCL Trading Card and Photograph Albums.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs, images, and trading cards pertaining to the PCL collected by Dick Dobbins. Includes a small amount of
material on pre-PCL, non-PCL, and Major League baseball.

Subseries 4.1:
Photographs, 1866-1987

Physical Description:
MSP Boxes 1-17; MSP OV Boxes 1-4

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by franchise city, with the following exceptions: photographs pertaining to the PCL in general, Major
League Baseball, other images related to baseball, but not directly related to the PCL, and unidentified photos. Players with
separate files are Francis "Lefty" O'Doul and the three DiMaggio brothers (Joseph, Dominic, and Vincent); their folders are
located with the San Francisco Seals materials.

Scope and Content Note

Contains photographs and other images of players, teams and team personnel, stadiums, and baseball events.

Albums contain baseball trading cards and player and team photographs and other images compiled by Dick Dobbins. Includes
Zeenut, Obaks (Old English Backs), and other commercial brand baseball cards, circa 1911-1938.